Although he was hit by a line drive on his pitching arm in his second and most recent start as a Padre, Stults said the triceps bruise won’t keep him from today’s start. He allowed one unearned run on four hits over five innings last Thursday in New York to pick up the Padres lone win of the first eight games of the 10-game road trip. This will be his third career start against the Cubs and his third start at Wrigley Field, where he is 0-2 with a 8.59 ERA – allowing seven runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Cubs RHP Jeff Samardzjia (4-3, 3.00 ERA)

Samardzjia, 27, is 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds. He was an All-American in football as well as baseball at Notre Dame. As a wide receiver, Samardzjia caught 179 passes for a Fighting Irish-record 2,593 yards from 2003-2006 with 155 of the catches for 2,232 yards and 27 touchdowns coming over his junior and senior seasons. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2006 draft by the Cubs as a junior and signed. After his senior football season, he told the NFL he was going to play baseball. He made his major league debut in 2008 and has a career record of 16-12 with a 4.05 ERA in 137 games (14 starts). He was used exclusively as a reliever in 2011, going 8-4 with a 2.97 ERA in 75 games (87 strikeouts and 50 walks in 88 innings). He has been used exclusively as a starter this season and has 57 strikeouts against 18 walks in 57 innings. He is 2-1 in four starts at Wrigley Field this season with a 1.52 ERA. He is 9-5 over his career at Wrigley Field with a 3.64 ERA in 70 appearances (six starts). He is 1-0 against the Padres with a 0.00 ERA in two relief appearances.